“That won’t be necessary.” Lucas steps over the cream-colored rug I have in the foyer, not wanting to track blood on it. He’s so thoughtful.
I can hear Kristy and Nicole in the kitchen, no doubt making a potion to help the poor guy we brought back. Naomi is standing in the living room, staring down Eliza. She doesn’t trust her, and if it weren’t for the fact that Eliza is under Lucas’s command, I wouldn’t either. Monica and the other human I assume is her friend are sitting on the couch, looking terrified.
“Has he said anything?” I ask Naomi as I take my shoes off.
She shakes her head. “We were able to get chamomile tea into him, which seemed to calm him down, but then his fingers, well, missing fingers started bleeding. And that caused the freak-out.”
“Bleeding is good,” I say, looking at the man. “Bleeding means you’re alive. Well, kind of. Are the others—”
“Making a potion to soothe his nerves as well as erase the last hour from his memory? Yes.”
“Thank God.”
Eliza puts her hands on her hips. “Is anyone going to tell me what is going on?”
“I did a spell to bring him back from the dead,” I say, sweeping my hand to the guy on the floor. “And it sort of accidentally brought forth an entire graveyard.”
Eliza shifts her gaze to Lucas, obviously not believing me.
“It’s true,” he tells her. “I saw the whole thing. Why are you here?”
“I’ve been calling for you for hours.” She casts her eyes around the house. “I figured you’d be here, with her.”
“That doesn’t answer my question,” Lucas goes on.
Not wanting the rest of us to hear what she’s going to say, Eliza speaks in a different language. Lucas answers back, speaking so fast I can’t pick up on what language it is. Italian, maybe? Spanish?
Whatever Eliza says seems to make Lucas annoyed, though not with her. He goes to her side, and I watch, curious about their relationship. He touches her as the talks, but there’s nothing sexual about it. I know he cares for her. Would die to protect her.
And there’s nothing she wouldn’t do for him.
“Not to break up this fun little party,” Naomi says. “But you have a yard full of bodies.”
“Ugh, right.” I throw my head back, wanting nothing more than to collapse back onto the couch right now. But there’s no way I’m sitting down until I’ve taken my clothes off and showered. It’ll probably take an hour of scrubbing myself to feel clean. “I’ll, uh, put them in a pile, cloak it, and deal with them tomorrow.”
“So let me get this straight,” Monica’s friend says, slowly rising to her feet. She has pink streaks in her pale blonde hair. “You four are witches?”
“Right,” I tell her. “I’m Callie. Nice to meet you.”
“And he was dead,” she goes on, pointing to the guy on the floor.
“Yep.”
The friend turns back to Monica, who gives a shrug. “At least that explains the smell,” Monica whispers.
“Witches are real,” her friend repeats. “Witches who can do magic spells and bring dead folk back to life.” Shaking her head, she slowly sits back down on the couch. “And I thought vampires were all we had to deal with.”
Naomi smirks, raising one eyebrow. “You’re really not going to like it when you find out demons are real too.”
“Look,” I interject, holding up a hand. “I don’t want to overwhelm you, and I really don’t want to wipe your memories. So just don’t go around telling anyone we’re witches, okay? We don’t want to be exposed.”
“Wipe our memories?” Monica asks nervously. She looks over at Lucas and Eliza, who are still speaking in hushed voices in the foyer. “You can do that?”
Naomi laughs. “Honey, we just raised an army of the dead. There’s nothing we can’t do.”
The man in the corner starts rocking back and forth faster and faster and then turns and whacks his head against the wall over and over.
“Shit,” I swear and rush over. I grab him by the shoulders and try to pull him away from the wall. He claws at me, and of course uses the one hand that still has all his fingers.
“Ladies,” Naomi calls over her shoulder. “We’re going to need that potion. Now.”
“Hey,” I say to the guy. “Calm down. It’s okay.” I push him back and my fingers slip as his skin smears right off his arm. “Crap.” I shake my hand, flicking the gooey flesh onto the floor. He’s deteriorating, dammit. My heart falls. I really thought I could save him.
I look up, meeting Naomi’s eyes. Her face softens and she comes over. “I’m sorry,” she whispers to me as she kneels down, putting her hand on my shoulder. “I’ll tell them to adjust the potion.”
The man continues to wrestle against me, and the more he protests, the more his skin sloughs off. Not wanting to have him melt apart in front of me, I conjure up a ball of energy and zap him with it. He stiffens and then slumps forward, unconscious. Gently, I roll him back on the floor.
“What the hell did you do to him?” Monica’s friend asks, jumping up. “Did you kill him?”
“No, I just knocked him out. But he’s…he’s…”
“He’s starting to rot.” Lucas speeds over and crouches down in front of the man.
“I thought I could save him,” I admit quietly. “I mean, I didn’t, and then I did…he came back better than I expected. His wounds healed. I was going to find his family.”
“That wasn’t your plan, though, was it?”
“No. But it’s not fair. A demon killed him, and he should have a second chance.”
“Callie,” Lucas says gently, standing and cupping my chin up to his. “Go shower. You don’t need to watch this. I’ll bury him. Again. Just don’t ask me to dig him up a second time.”
I smile, looking into his deep blue eyes. “Don’t worry. I don’t plan on doing that spell again anytime soon. Or ever. Besides almost starting the zombie apocalypse, I didn’t really get the answers I was looking for. His brain was all mush inside. He didn’t even know his name.”
“And the other bodies,” Lucas starts. “You want them out back?”
“Yeah, there’s a burn pile several yards from the back porch. Kristy and I were hoping to have a good old-fashioned bonfire, but it looks like I’ll be roasting corpses instead.”
Lucas laughs and plays with a section of my hair. Behind him, I see Monica’s jaw drop and Eliza cross her arms and look away. Is it that out of character for Lucas to get close to someone…or is it because I’m a witch?
“Do you need to go take care of vampire business?” I ask Lucas.
“Yes, but I don’t have to leave just yet. I’ll stay and help you first.”
“You don’t have to.”
He inches closer. “I know. Now go shower. You stink.”
“You do too,” I remind him, and he flashes a smirk.
“We still could shower together, you know.”
“Maybe another time.” I leave the family room, but don’t go upstairs yet. I go into the basement first, grabbing a Rubbermaid bin off a shelf. It’s full of extra blankets. Most of my storage is down here since the closets in this house are on the small side. I sort through it, finding the oldest one, and bring it upstairs. I cover the unconscious man up and sacrifice a pillow off my couch. I have fifteen pillows on it, no joke, and have been wanting to switch the color scheme in here anyway. I have a hard time saying no to a good accent pillow.
Kristy comes back into the room with the potion. She says she’ll sit with him until he wakes up so I can go upstairs and shower. I must really stink. Lucas and Eliza are leaving the house as I go up the stairs and into my bedroom. I peel off my clothes and decide to just throw them away. Padding down the hall holding my blood-and-gut-covered clothes rolled up in a ball, I open the small hall closet up here and take out a plastic shopping bag. I dump the clothes inside, tie it tight, and set it at the top of the stairs so I’ll remember to take them down after I’ve showered.<
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When I go into the bathroom, I hear voices floating up from the yard. Not turning the light on yet, I slink forward, crouching down under the window. The bathroom gets hot and steamy and I usually leave this window cracked when I shower to help with the ventilation. I forgot to close it after the cleansing bath, and now I can hear Eliza talking to Lucas.
“I’m well aware of what she is,” Lucas tells her.
“Then you should stay away,” Eliza protests. “Witches kill vampires.”
“She’s not going to kill me.”
“How can you be sure?”
“The same reason I’m not going to kill her.”
A moment of silence passes between them before Eliza speaks again. “She conjured white light, Lucas. White light. That’s Marie Lancaster-level shit! You and I both know normal witches can’t conjure UV light. That’s how Marie killed all those vampires in the War of Light and Dark, and it’s said that she had the power loaned to her from a god! A god, Lucas, and your little plaything in there just conjured it up like it was nothing! You’d have to be insane to keep hanging around her and you’re not insane, Lucas. You’re not!”
Marie Lancaster was a strong witch from a large coven, one who stood the front lines in the war the vampires and witches waged on each other over a thousand years ago. We learned about her in school, and she’s hailed as a hero. The vampires doubled their army without the witches’ knowledge and attacked at night.
Marie went to the highest hill on the battlefield and conjured the white light Eliza was talking about. It burned so bright it killed her in the process, but she “brought the light to the dark” as the history books put it, burning every single vampire in the army to a crisp.
That’s why it’s so rare to find vampires Lucas’s age now. Most were killed years ago, and those that didn’t perish in the war were hunted by the members of the covens who fought them. The witches knew there was no way to rid the world of vampires, but at least now they’d stop messing with us. For they were jealous of our powers of magic, and our ability to walk both in the day and the night.
But the part about her getting her powers from a god? That was never taught to us. I hold out my hand, looking at my fingers. I’ve always been good at conjuring. White light is energy in its rawest form and is the easiest for me to conjure. It’s hot and will burn you, but so will a lightbulb if you touch it long enough. It’s all energy and is just a matter of tapping into it.
“Though lately, I’m beginning to wonder,” Eliza goes on. “You haven’t been yourself.”
“Maybe this is exactly who I’m supposed to be,” Lucas says. “And I like being around her. She makes me feel, which is becoming harder to do. Sixteen hundred years, Eliza. I’ve been walking this earth for sixteen hundred years.”
“So what? You’re bored and need to have a little fun? There are plenty of young vamps for you to get off on. Hell, even humans.”
“I don’t want to just get off anymore. I’ve done that for too long. You say I haven’t been myself lately.”
“For the last fifteen years,” she spits, and the whole thing is still just so weird to me. Fifteen years is a long fucking time to be in a mood. But when you live forever, fifteen years is like a day, I suppose.
“Maybe it’s because I want more.”
“And you think the witch bitch can give it to you?”
I hold my breath, waiting for Lucas to answer. But he doesn’t, or just not loud enough for me to hear. I get up and get into the shower, thinking about everything I just overheard.
And now I know for certain he feels the same emptiness inside. Only…I can’t imagine having to live with it for all eternity.
Chapter 16
Coughing, I wave my hand in front of my face to dissipate the smoke. My eyes burn, forcing me to turn away from the flames.
“I think we’re almost done,” I tell my familiars, who have all gathered around to watch the bodies burn.
“Thank freaking goodness.” I take a few steps back and slump onto the ground. The sun is hot today, warming the earth. I could easily close my eyes, pretend I’m on a beach somewhere and take a nap.
And then probably wake up with my house on fire.
Yawning, I push myself up and go onto the porch, taking cover in the shade. Freya rubs against my legs, and I reach down and scoop her up. “I see you finally forgave me for making you miss out on the action.”
Freya and Pandora were not happy to be babysitters while Binx got to come out and fight the undead.
“Next time,” I tell her. “You know there will be one. Hopefully not reanimated corpses, but demons or something less messy to kill.”
She curls up in my lap, purring. My eyelids fall shut, and I doze off for a few minutes, waking only when my phone rings. It’s Lucas, and I’m surprised he’s awake at this hour.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Callie,” he says. “How are you doing? Last night…last night was intense.”
“You can say that again. And I’m okay,” I yawn. “Tired, but okay. You?”
“I’m fine.”
“Of course you are.” I let my eyes fall shut again, and the image of Lucas flashes before me. He’s taking his clothes off, and I can feel his big cock pressing against me again. “Thanks again for helping last night. You didn’t have to.”
“I know I didn’t.”
My heart lurches, remembering what I overheard. I make him feel despite the vast emptiness inside of him threatening to take over and swallow him whole.
I’m not ready to admit to him—or to myself—that he makes me feel too.
“Can I take you out tonight?” he asks. “On a date.”
“I spent the morning chopping up and burning body parts. Excuse me for not feeling very romantic.”
“Don’t worry. It won’t take me long to get you in the mood.”
Dammit. I know he’s right.
“I understand last night was a lot for you to handle,” he says. “Forgive me for being selfish, but I want to see you, and I want to be the only thing you need to focus your attention on tonight.”
“Let’s just say you’re forgiven.”
“Then let me take you out tonight. We both know you need a night off.”
“I can’t argue with that.”
“I want to take you out on an old-fashioned date. Dinner. Maybe a show after. And then we’ll end the night back at my place.”
“You sound so sure you’ll get lucky.”
“I always do.”
“But you’ve never dated a witch before, have you?”
“No,” he admits with no shame at all. “You are the first witch I’ve wanted to have a romantic relationship with.”
I pause, squeezing my eyes shut when the wind shifts and smoke blows into my face. A romantic relationship with. He just told me he wants more than a one-night stand with me. It’s getting really hard to ignore this feeling. Because it kind of makes me giddy.
“I won’t ask again,” he promises. “If you tell me no, I won’t press. But something tells me you want to go out with me.”
“I do,” I admit. “I just don’t know if it’s a good idea.”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
I open my mouth to tell him it’s a bad idea because he’s a vampire and I’m a human. I’m awake during the day and love the feeling of the sun on my face. He’ll live forever and I’ll get old and die within the next seventy or so years.
But it’s just one date.
“I don’t know,” I say instead. “So…so I guess. Yeah. Let’s go out tonight.”
“I will see you not long after sundown.”
* * *
“Just answer it,” I groan, rolling over in bed. After agreeing to go out with Lucas tonight, I put out the fire and went upstairs to crash. I laid in bed, texting Kristy and the twins to make sure everyone was okay.
They all were. Freaked out, a little excited, but okay.
Then I passed out, not waking for three hours. Now
, someone is at the front door, knocking. My familiars are snuggled in bed with me, and I slip my arm around Binx, taking comfort in his sleek fur against my face.
“Make them leave.”
Pandora gets up, shadowing down the stairs. I hear the front door open, and only a few seconds later, someone runs off the porch. A truck starts up and they peel out of the driveway. I smile, knowing Pandora must have opened the door and freaked the delivery guy out.
Then I roll over and fall back asleep.
Several hours later, I wake up again. This time I know it’s getting close to noon. I could sleep for another three hours, but if I do, I’ll have a hard time waking up. I feel foggy enough right now as it is.
But dammit, I’m so tired. The man I tried to save faded back to the dead within an hour after I got out of the shower and came back into the living room. Lucas buried him deep in the forest, and then he, Eliza, and the two humans who came with them left.
I still don’t know what kind of trouble Lucas had going on over on his end.
The twins left not long after the vampires and company did, and Kristy stayed a bit longer. She left, saying she wanted to go home to sleep and I should do the same, but I couldn’t fall asleep. Everything kept replaying in my mind.
“Him? Someone worse than the demon who possessed you?” I had asked.
“Yes,” the man answered.
“Do you know what he wanted?”
“He…he was looking for something. Someone, maybe. All I know is they were afraid of it. They…they said it shouldn’t be.”
It didn’t make sense. The demon who possessed the man was a high-level demon and possibly a Gatekeeper of…of something. There are only a few who could be worse. The thought kept me awake until the sun shone bright in the sky, and instead of lying in bed agonizing over it, I got up and started burning the bodies.
Lucas thought ahead, and I’m not sure if I should be thankful or put off by it. The bodies were neatly stacked and evenly coated with gasoline for easy burning. With some magical help, they were reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash in only a few hours.
Once I put out the fire and made sure my house wouldn’t succumb to the flames, I retreated upstairs, scrubbed the smell of smoke off me, and crashed into bed. And now I’m wishing for another few hours of sleep. In the back of my mind I know I’ll feel better once I get up and walk around.
Dead of Night: Book One in the Thorne Hill Series Page 13
